Women had campaigned for access to holiest part of Shani Shingnapur temple

The authorities of a Hindu temple in western India on Friday allowed women to enter into the holiest part of the structure for the first time, marking a victory for activists who are demanding gender equality in the religious sphere.

The decision came after the state government of Maharashtra where the Shani Shingnapur temple is located informed a Mumbai court last week that it would proactively enforce a 1956 law that authorizes entry for all Hindus to any Hindu places of public worship in the state.

"We will do as the law says," said Sanjay Bankar, manager of the temple devoted to the planet Saturn.

Shani Shingnapur temple in a village in the district of Ahmednagar was the focus of national attention in January when authorities stopped a group of mainly women activists from marching toward the temple to worship inside the shrine's open-air platform.

Until Friday, the temple authorities had asserted that while both men and women were allowed inside the premises, it was duty-bound to protect a centuries-old tradition that only male priests could enter the inner part of the temple, the sanctum sanctorum.

Trupti Desai, a woman activist who had led the January march, said that she planned to worship at the temple along with more than a dozen other women on Friday evening.

"It's the triumph of female power," Ms. Desai said. "We will continue our fight to end discrimination against women at all other places of worship," she said.

Instances of prohibition on women entering some public religious places have gained national traction in recent years. They include the Hindu Sabarimala temple in southern India that bars women of menstruating age to enter its premises; and Mumbai's popular Haji Ali Dargah that forbids women to enter its sanctum sanctorum. Activists have petitioned courts to force religious authorities to stop such discrimination.